Europe lags behind in nanotechnology stakes
European companies risk falling behind their US and Asian counterparts in the emerging field of nanotechnology unless more private investment is pumped into the sector, warned a new report from the European Commission.
“Nanotechnology has the ability to become the most promising technology advance for this century,” claimed The economic development of nanotechnology: an indicators-based analysis. “But much must be done to convert Europe’s scientific and technological excellence into economic returns in the form of new products, production processes and technology-intensive firms.”
US and Japanese firms were “patenting [nanotech applications] like crazy”, while their European counterparts were taking things far more slowly, claimed Del Stark, chief executive of the European Nanotechnology Trade Alliance: “Why is that? What lessons can we learn before we are left behind?”
Speaking at the Food & Drink Futures conference in London last week organised by Food Manufacture and Leatherhead Food International, Stark said that caution on the part of food manufacturers was nevertheless “quite understandable” given the reaction to genetically modified foods in the 1990s.
With this in mind, the food industry had to develop genuinely groundbreaking products with demonstrable consumer benefits, if it was to get consumers on side when it came to nanotechnology, he said: “You’d better be offering a pretty substantial benefit if you are going to add something new to people’s food.”
However, some “extremely exciting” patent applications had been filed in the food sector in the last couple of years, said Stark.
These included: antibacterial wheatflour made with silver nanoparticles; nanoencapsulated whey proteins; chewing gum, milk and lozenges with nanoparticles that promoted mineralization of dental enamel, and artichoke nanoclusters, claiming to reduce the surface tension of foods and supplements to increase wetness and boost absorption of nutrients.
Some lobby groups wanted “a complete moratorium on commercial developments in nanotechnology until everything is known about everything”, he claimed. Others were encouraged by how it could improve the environment and human health, but wanted further research into the effects of nanoparticles on cells and at the end of their lifecycle before products got to market, he said.
